NOTE: This thread is for discussing the ads we have or can have. There are other existing threads for other aspects of advertising on Unstuck. I’d like to keep this one narrowly focused. If you really hate advertising or this topic angers you for whatever reason, there is now an opt-out group you can join so you don’t see ads. Then you can mute this thread too and never have to see or think about any of this stuff ever again.
One request from previous discussions was for advertising that doesn’t suck. There was also some talk of selling ad spaces ourselves, promoting things we want to promote, and all sorts of other possibilities. We now have the ability to do these things, and more.
We were just showing ads from a network (AdSense), but now we can show them from anywhere, however we want. We can mix and match from a dozen different providers, include our own custom stuff as well, and target things to different sub-forums, threads, geographic regions, etc.
So the goal of this thread is to come up with things to put in those ad slots. I’m open to any reasonable suggestion, but I’m also busy so I’d be even more open to proposals where the leg work has already been done and I can drop whatever somebody came up with into the mix without spending a bunch of time on it myself.
One obvious source for ads that don’t suck is affiliate programs where we get a commission for promoting stuff we actually like and might spend money on. I already have a couple accounts with affiliate networks that I plan to start looking into for possibilities. I also have applications pending with iTunes and Google Play.
The first affiliate account I set up was with Amazon so I’d like to start with that because it’s easy (although it was a real pain in the ass to get them to display correctly). Yes, I know, Amazon is evil and we even have a dedicated thread about not buying from them. But I also know that almost all of us shop there anyway, so it’d be nice to get a kickback for the site for something we’re already doing. We can always drop them if something better comes along.
I’ve started with a couple spots in rotation just to get going, but what I’m hoping for is suggestions from other people. If you have books, movies, music or gadgets you think the forum might find useful, tell me about it and I’ll create ads for them. I need lists of 4 items for each ad, and they’ll appear like this on desktop at the end of threads, and as a scrollable thing on mobile.
Worth noting is that Amazon will pay a commission on anything else you buy in a session from here. So if you click on Hop on Pop and while you’re there you add a couple 4k TV’s and a new Maserati to your shopping cart, we get a cut of the whole thing.
So that’s the beginning. More to come, and hopefully with suggestions and involvement from everybody. If you have other ideas on what we can show or a line on something promising, please post about it ITT. Although if you’re looking at other ad or affiliate networks be sure to read the fine print. Many of them don’t like forums, some don’t like politics, and a lot of the good ones have minimum traffic requirements that we’re not even close to meeting.